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The Best Point Of Sale Systems For 2023

    Matt Sherman
  • UPDATED

Advertiser Disclosure: Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity.

Learn More About Our Top Picks

CompanyBest ForNext StepsBest For
Lightspeed Retail POS

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Best overall POS and industry leader (supports retail and restaurant).
Best overall POS and industry leader (supports retail and restaurant).

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Revel POS Systems

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Most advanced reporting (supports retail and restaurant).
Most advanced reporting (supports retail and restaurant).

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TouchBistro

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Best restaurant-specific features (supports restaurant/foodservice only).
Best restaurant-specific features (supports restaurant/foodservice only).

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Square POS

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Best free POS with room for upgrades (supports retail and quick-serve).
Best free POS with room for upgrades (supports retail and quick-serve).

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Toast POS

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Best restaurant POS for online ordering (supports restaurant/foodservice only).
Best restaurant POS for online ordering (supports restaurant/foodservice only).

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Show Fewer Options

Read more below to learn why we chose these options.

1. Lightspeed POS

Lightspeed Retail POS


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Limited time offer. Sign up to Lightspeed by March 31st and get up to $1,500 in complimentary hardware. Claim this offer today.

Best Overall POS and Industry Leader (Supports Retail and Restaurant)

Highlights

  • Premium-class product
  • Excellent register functionality
  • Onboarding help provided
  • Robust reporting features
  • Strong eCommerce platform

Summary

Lightspeed POS is one of the most robust and easy-to-use solutions in today’s point of sale market. If you’re looking for a system that will likely have every option you could dream up in a POS in both the front and back end and pricing isn’t a major consideration, Lightspeed Retail should be fairly high on your list. I also appreciate the company’s commitment to offering customers the latest in POS advances with its constant updates. With strong customer service and a commitment to making sure that you get up and running quickly and smoothly, Lightspeed takes a lot of stress and guesswork off your plate.

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2. Revel Systems POS

Revel POS Systems


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Most Advanced Reporting (Supports Retail and Restaurant)

Highlights

  • High-quality software for both retail and restaurants
  • Robust integrations
  • Excellent reporting
  • Kiosk functionality
  • A modern kitchen display system

Summary

Revel boasts one of the most advanced feature sets on the market with a full reporting suite, advanced inventory management, a built-in credit card processor, and nearly any integration you can think of. While geared toward larger businesses with multiple locations, a smaller retailer/restauranteur with a savvy owner may find Revel to be an ideal fit. Given its robust integrations and advanced back end, it’s hard to imagine that any business owner (particularly in the foodservice industry) would find Revel lacking. It thoroughly deserves to be one of our five-star systems.

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3. TouchBistro POS

TouchBistro


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Best Restaurant-specific Features (Supports Restaurant/Foodservice Only)

Highlights

  • Well-designed UI
  • iOS-based
  • Easy to use
  • Competitive monthly cost
  • Numerous integrations

Summary

Designed for any business with a menu (restaurants, cafes, bars, etc.), TouchBistro is a successful point of sale application that runs solely on mobile iPads synchronized through a local network. The TouchBistro hardware setup is low cost and simple, and the licensing fees are also cheap compared to the gigantic POS systems of yore. Better yet, customers love the modern look and feel of the tablet-based checkout system that can handle seating and table assignments, menu selections, order taking, wireless transfer of orders to the kitchen, split tickets, split tabs, and daily sales reports. Even payments can be completed tableside, with the option of quickly emailing receipts to customers.

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4. Square POS

Square POS


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Get a free card swiper from Square at no cost when you create a free account. Claim your card reader.

Best Free POS With Room For Upgrades (Supports Retail and Quick-Serve)

Highlights

  • Quick setup
  • Simple processing fees
  • Intuitive interface
  • Loads of integrations

Summary

Square is defined by elegant simplicity, with set processing rates that are both affordable and easy to comprehend. Couple that with a sleek and fully customizable interface, and it’s difficult to go wrong if you have a small business with a limited number of users.

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5. Toast POS

Toast POS


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Best Restaurant POS for Online Ordering (Supports Restaurant/Foodservice Only)

Highlights

  • All-in-one POS
  • Android-based
  • Advanced reporting tools
  • Advanced employee management
  • eCommerce integration
  • Advanced online order tools

Summary

Whether your restaurant focuses more on in-person dining or takeout options, Toast POS comes with a fantastic array of built-in features to serve customers. Toast also acts as the client’s payment processor. Unlike many of its iOS-based competitors in the POS world, it runs on Android operating systems, making the tablets it runs on cheaper and more versatile. Toast even has a free plan. If you’re interested in many of the add-ons that Toast offers, the cost can start to creep up, but, at the same time, it’s nice to have those options as well as the score of third-party software integrations Toast offers. Toast Go, a mobile POS device created specifically for its platform, also makes Toast an appealing option for restaurants that want to implement tableside ordering.

Get Started With Toast POS

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A Summary Of Your Best Options

  1. Lightspeed Retail POS: Best overall POS and industry leader (supports retail and restaurant).
  2. Revel POS Systems: Most advanced reporting (supports retail and restaurant).
  3. TouchBistro: Best restaurant-specific features (supports restaurant/foodservice only).
  4. Square POS: Best free POS with room for upgrades (supports retail and quick-serve).
  5. Toast POS: Best restaurant POS for online ordering (supports restaurant/foodservice only).
Matt Sherman

Matt Sherman

Expert Analyst & Reviewer at Merchant Maverick
A former sports editor and journalist, Matt Sherman has been writing about and researching small business software since 2015, with a special emphasis on retail and restaurant sales. Matt's expert opinions are cited in various industry publications, including Fox Business. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon.
Matt Sherman
View Matt Sherman's professional experience on LinkedIn.

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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.

Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.

Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.

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